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For All We Have And Are

"For All We Have And Are" is a 1914 poem by Rudyard Kipling in response to German war crimes during the First World War.

For All We Have And Are
by Rudyard Kipling
LanguageEnglish
Subject(s)World War I
PublisherThe Times, London; The New York Times; and other papers
Publication date2 September 1914
Full text
For all we have and are at Wikisource

The poem was published in The Times of London and The New York Times on 2 September 1914, after the German invasion of Belgium the month before. Atrocities against Belgian civilians were attracted international notoriety and anger, particularly the Sack of Louvain.[1][2][3]

Kipling in particular was very affected by the war, and his son had disappeared in 1915 during the Battle of Loos.[2] Kipling was a war hawk and a staunch supporter of the Allies, whom he viewed as standing in the way of the German forces. According to scholar Irene de Angelis "Kipling equated Germany’s policy of Schreklichkeit in Belgium with the collapse of civilization."[4] His poem was intended to serve as a call to arms against Germany.[5]

The poem popularized the usage of the term "Hun" to describe the Germans.[1] His use of the word was a remark on a patriotic speech by Wilhelm II that compared the German tradition to that of the Huns.[6] 1914-1918-online described the word as an example of British propaganda during World War I,[7] and has regularly been given as an example of anti-German sentiment.[6] Some critics, such as Kingsley Amis, have defended Kipling, arguing that "“the Hun” is a metaphor for “the barbarian, the enemy of decent values”, and “the gate” is not that of England and the Empire, but that of civilisation."[8]

"What stands if Freedom fall? / Who dies if England live?" was also popularized.[9] The Indian Ministry of Defence quoted the words in a 2022 tweet in honour of the Indian army.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b Ragan, Brian Abel. ""The Hun Is at the Gate": Rudyard Kipling's Poetry of the First World War" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ a b Dunlap, David W. (20 April 2017). "Rudyard Kipling on the Front Page: Battle Cries and an Elegy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  3. ^ "Demonising Putin risks making compromise impossible, and prolonging the war". inews.co.uk. 12 March 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  4. ^ "From Propaganda to Private Grief: Rudyard Kipling and World War I". ResearchGate. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  5. ^ "For all we have and are". The Kipling Society. 5 March 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  6. ^ a b Kucich, John (2004). "Imperial Subjects, Imperial Space: Rudyard Kipling's Fiction of the Native-Born (review)". Victorian Studies. 46 (2): 362–364. doi:10.1353/vic.2004.0092. ISSN 1527-2052. S2CID 143721657.
  7. ^ "Stereotypes | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)". encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  8. ^ Kahraman, Göksu Güzelordu (1 January 2019). "KEEPING THE DARK SIDE OF THE WAR IN THE BACKGROUND IN RUPERT BROOKE'S "THE SOLDIER" AND RUDYARD KIPLING'S "FOR ALL WE HAVE AND ARE"". Kesit Akademi.
  9. ^ McGreevy, Ronan. "Rudyard Kipling's first World War tragedy". The Irish Times. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  10. ^ "'Unshakeable spirit': Netizens salute resilience of jawan serving in harsh conditions". The Indian Express. 9 January 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
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